Vegetarian Cooking Hacks Every Herbivore Should Know

If you're a fan of cooking hacks, chances are you've come across all the best ones. From the right way to eat a cupcake to how to get the best sear on your steak, the hacks are many and varied. If you're a vegetarian, not many of them will pertain to you -- chances are you'll probably never need to know how to eat chicken wings like a lady. But there are a good deal of those hacks that could make your meat-free life easier, like how to slice vegetables faster, peel bananas smarter, and even figure out how to make tofu really soak up flavor.

To help you sift through the best vegetarian cooking hacks the internet has to offer, we've put together a list of all the best ones a vegetarian could use -- because we like you.

1

Make your own steaming basket with a plate and aluminum foil.

James Ransom/Food52

The folks at Food52 shared this great trick. Ball up some foil, and put it in the bottom of a pot with water. Gently place a heat-safe plate on top of the foil. Load up the veggies, crank up the heat with the lid on, and steam.

2

Core a head of lettuce quickly with ninja-like skills.

Saveur

If you have a whole head of lettuce you can easily core it by smashing the hard root down on a cutting board -- it'll dislodge it from the leaves.

Put peanut butter on both slices of bread and it'll keep the jelly's moisture from making the bread soggy. So simple, it's genius. See how it's done here.

7

Soak your beans in just one hour.

goblinbox_(queen_of_ad_hoc_bento)/Flickr

Most dried beans require an overnight soak to rehydrate, but not many of us remember to prep our beans the night before. No worries -- if you soak them in boiling hot water for just one hour it'll have the same effect.

8

Seed squash more easily with an ice cream scoop.

Rita Maas via Getty Images

And then use it to serve yourself a bowl of ice cream -- you know, to reward yourself for your ingenuity.